THREE DAYS IN BEAUTIFUL BARGA, ITALY
After Cinque Terre, we really wanted to find somewhere to go in between Vernazza and Florence, our next big city. Since Brisighella was such a success, we thought we’d try to find another small, quaint town. Since we didn’t have internet access in Cinque Terre, we had to quickly decide where we were going while online at the bar in town. We found an apartment in a small town called Barga and the owner was willing to pick us up from the train station, so it seemed like a good deal to us.
As luck would have it, even though we were trying to find a true Italian village, we in fact stumbled upon the largest population of Scottish in Italy! Apparently back in the 1800s, the citizens of Barga were not forced to pay any taxes. When the Italian government forced Barga to start taxing, many families split for bonnie Scotland. This exodus happened again during World War II. Since then, many have returned or made Barga their summer vacation destination.
The owners of our apartment were also very interesting - she was originally from Florence and he was of Eastern European descent (I think Polish). They loved Spain, enough so that they bought a few vacation homes around the country and spent their summers there. They had recently done a complete renovation of the Barga apartment and we were the first guests to stay.
Since we hadn’t had the internet for basically 5 days, the first day in Barga was spent catching up on work. We took the short walk into the center of town in the evening and stopped at a local wine bar. We were the only ones there at first, but soon after it seemed like everyone in town was making their way there. Every few minutes a new person would join the group, and the ages and generational gaps were quite interesting. The first arrivals were a few middle aged couples, and then some old women joined them, followed by two 13 year olds and then a few college-aged girls. We were very confused about the relationship but figured they were probably a mix of relatives and friends.
For dinner that night, we ate at a restaurant in town recommended by the owner of the apartment we were staying in. Instead of having a Scottish pub, they had an Irish one that had a beautiful view of the surrounding mountains and we headed there after dinner. We met a couple who had met in Glasgow and moved to Barga with their twins a few years ago. The Hawks were playing that night, so when we got back to the apartment Kevin decided to stay up and watch the game.
The next day we were pretty pooped from the night before, so we just relaxed and walked around the town. We were craving non-Italian food, so we got some burgers at the Irish pub and went back to our apartment to catch up on some Mad Men.
On our last day in Barga, we hiked up to the top of the town and visited the Duomo and a few other beautiful churches. Everyone in town that we had talked to recommended one restaurant, L'Altana, and we were lucky to get reservations that night. While I can’t say Barga was our favorite city, this meal was one of the best from the whole trip. The owner’s mother was making handmade pasta at a table inside as we were waiting and the lamb with peppercorn sauce was nothing short of amazing. We shared two unbelievable tagliatelle pastas - one ragu and one with a truffle cream sauce.
Apparently the next day was a national holiday, so everyone was out and about at the Irish pub that night. The streets were packed with people hopping from the Irish pub to the only other pub in town and they even had karaoke set up in a tent outside. Karaoke in Italy? Don’t mind if I do. I quickly made friends with the young girl in charge and we sang a duet to “Total Eclipse of the Heart.” Classic.
Barga Recommendations:
Eat:
Ristorante L’Altana
Via di Mezzo, 1, 55051 Barga LU, Italy
Drink:
Shamrock Irish Pub
Via Guglielmo Marconi, 10, 55051 Barga LU, Italy
